As discussed in the main Superpowers OOC thread, heres the planning thread for my proposed historical spin-off. The story would feature an entirely new cast of characters and a somewhat different style to the current RP, but would exist within the same conceptual universe.

The current point of discussion is what period of history the events of (at least the first of) these historical adventures should take place in.Here is a slightly extended list of choices with some background information:

The Roman Empire: The Empire is a sprawling, decadent thing. It must be protected. By the Emperor's decree a new branch of the Imperial Legion is to be created. Not for these men is the standard fare of fighting barbarians and putting down slave revolts. These men fight bloodthirsty druids and thwart armies of skeletal horsemen from the East. They are the 51st Division.Examples of Heroes from this Era include... Russel Crowe? or maybe the guy from Spartacus.

Potential storylines: Barbarian hordes from the East, conspiracies in the senate, natives not being happy about having Roman gods foisted on them.

The Middle Ages (Current story): The days of yore when men were real men, knights were bold, and kings launched bloodthirsty crusades on an annual basis. Heroes in this setting would be roving bands of rough-and-ready adventurers fighting with sword and spell. Any technology around is primitive by the standards of today, except in the far off lands of Arabia and the Orient, and villains are more likely to be indvidually strong, rather than scheming masterminds in command of armies of loyal minions, with the exception of crooked counts and so forth. This setting would favour a more episodic format of short adventures, rather than big overarching plotlines.Examples of heroes of this era include: Robin Hood, King Arthur and other fighting types

Potential Storylines: Usurpers of the Throne, armies of the undead, dragons.

The Rennaissance:Ships sail off laden with men and rats and come back laden with stolen aztec gold and tropical diseases. Man stops beating his fellow man over the head long enough to start thinking about how the world works. Great artists and artisans ply their craft and the cities throng with merchants. Exciting new devices such as 'telescopes' and 'pendulums' revolutionise the western world. Heroes of this day are likely to be brave explorers or cunning thinkers, fighting the curses of foreign magics or the machinations of Machiavellian and Sadistic merchant barons.Examples of heroes in this era include: Leonardo Da Vinci, Magellan and Hernan Cortez (slaughtering thousands of defenceless natives is heroic)

Examples of Storylines: Aztec curses, Machiavellian conspiracies.

The Enlightenment: The Enlightenment picks up where the Rennaissance left off. Thousands are made unemployed as industry becomes increasingly reliant on big machinary (no steam yet, mind). Revolution is in the air as people start getting pissed off with the nobility eating all the cakes. Heroes fight for the people... or rescue the nobles from them, while villains try to steal from both sides and manipulate the power-hungry into waging war for their own perverse ends. Highwaymen rule the rodes, Pirates rule the sea, and everyone else crowds into big dirty cities and goes to maskerade balls.Examples of heroes in this era include: The Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, Dick Turpin and Blackbeard (he only plundered spanish and french vessels. That makes him heroic)

Examples of Storylines: Revolutions mainly.

The Wild West: Theres gold in them thar hills, and everyone wants a piece of it. As the shanty towns and ranches build up, so does the level of violent crime and miscellaneous banditry. Not only that, but the Natives are unhappy about the white man taking-um all his land, and these Natives can talk to spirits. Transport.... and other things, are revolutionised by the invention of the steam engine. Heroes are fanatical Lawmen, guns-for-hire and the ocassional dim-witted native sidekick, kemosabe.Examples of Heroes in this era include: The Lone Ranger, The Man with No Name, Jonah Hex and Zorro (He spans generations).

Examples of Storylines: Attempts to control the entire gold industry, plots to start civil war, roaming bands of super-banditos.

Pre-War: With the Industrial revolution well under way the people of the city struggle to breath, as well as to see, in the dense fog of pollution... and intrigue. The lost arts of the occult begin to become interesting again as the colonies begin sending strange and ancient artifacts to be displayed in the museums of the big cities. On the other end of the spectrum, mad scientists toil to uncover the secrets of life and death in their secluded mountain hideaways and Verne, Wells and Lovecraft write of the possibility of life elsewhere. Heroes use guile, cunning and intellectual brilliance in tandem with dashing braveryand technical prowess.Examples of heroes in this era include: Sherlock Holmes, Captain Nemo, The Amazing Screw-on Head and Flashman (Not to be confused with Superman or The Flash)

The Roaring Twenties: The world has just emerged from the largest war ever waged in human memory, but no-one in New York, New York (so good they named it twice!) seems to remember much of anything. Prohibition has done nothing to stop the mass consumption of alcohol, and freindly neighborhood petshops throng to the sound of rambunctious yahoos and hot Jazz music at 1am.Of course, all this comes at a price. The mafia has a veritable stranglehold on the fair city, and strange things are said to move around in the dark sewers and alleyways at night.Examples of heroes in this era include: Dick Tracey...

Examples of Stories: Battles for the future of the city with super-mafia, mutant sewer crocodiles, corrupt govenors making deals with evil etc etc.

Post-War: Europe is crippled by two devastating wars, and the focus is now on America. Man has harnessed the atom, what next? Paranoia runs high as the Red seeks to thwart justice at every turn, flying saucers crowd the sky and every workaday hick sees men in black wandering his neighborhood. The Governments of the world finally begin to take an interest in the paranormal, and agencies are set up to combat the percieved threat. Heroes are ordinary people, singled out and plucked from obscurity for their unique talents. As the doomsday clock moves ever closer to midnight can the world be saved?Examples of heroes in this era include: Golden age Superman (he can jump high and lift cars, lets not go nuts), Dick Tracy (ok, he's kinda pre-war but he fits ok) and Werner Von Braun (Ok, you caught me. I can't think of any that fit our universe properly, so sue me )

Examples of stories: Government coverups, the Reds trying to invade America, Nuclear plots.

Ok, next step is to post your characters. Then we can get the story going. Heres mine:

Name: Sir Percival Goodwine, alias The Black Rapier

Age: 28

Bio: Percy Goodwine was the son of wealthy London trader Archibald Goodwine, who had recieved a knighthood for his considerable donations to the cause of the city. His mother was the daughter of the Duke of Westminster. He recieved a priviledged upbringing until the day his parents were killed in a bungled robbery at their london townhouse. Percy, who was 17 at the time, vowed to hunt down and capture his parent's murderer. Moving to London from his parent's country residence, he began to train in the use of sword and gun, as well as making connections with London's criminal underground, wearing a black mask to hide his identity. 2 years later, at the age of 21 he finally found the man who had murdered his parents. With the criminal at his mercy, he deceided to give him the chance his parents had not receieved, and turned him over to the law. Although the criminal was eventually hanged, Percy knew he had done the right thing, and vowed to dedicate his life to the protection of the innocent. Taking absolutely no interest in business, he began to fund his crime-fighting activities by becoming a mysterious and dashing highwayman, robbing only those who could afford it, and vowing never to kill anyone from whom he stole. Soon, the name of the Black Rapier was known across England as an enemy of wrongdoers and the wealthy alike. In his public life, Percy cultivates the image of a cowardly and spineless drone of high-society.

Powers: Percy's powers come mainly from training, although he has an inborn aptitude that seems greater than mere talent.

Pistols: Percy wields his flintlock pistols with deadly accuracy, and has worked their complicated and usually lengthy reloading process down to a fine art.Swushbucklery: Likewise, Percy has great talent with the sword that is The Black Rapier's namesake.Riding: Percy has great skill riding horses, especially his own horse Calliope, but almost any horse becomes docile and obedient under his command.Contacts: During his time in London, Percy has made numerous contacts while visiting the clubs, coffee houses and opium dens, In the landed gentry, in the revolutionary fringes of society, and in the criminal underworld. Many of these are either indebted to him in some way or are ripe for blackmail should they refuse to cooperate.

Oh, just a heads up. Pat is already down as the villain for the first arc, so it would be best if everyone else made heroes or neutrals. After this arc has concluded we'll have another vote on the era and possibly change to a different time period. Don't worry if you get really attatched to a particular era though, if the votes go that way we can always pick up exactly where we left off on a previous era.

Johann Van Durecht, Alias Black HarryA Dutchman, originally born in the East Indies. He served for a long time on a Privateering Vessel, working for The East India Company, the Dutch Colonies and briefly the Mughal Empire, before returning to Europe to accept his inheritance. Whilst in India, he spent a long time in various monestaries, including Travelling to isolationist Japan and China to learn more about the Buddhist faith...and, the various Martial Arts pracisted there. He has brought these together into a Part-Western, part-Eastern Fighting Style which he has named 雙胞胎風 or 'Twin Winds'. He gained a strong sense or morality after organising a Mutiny againt a corrupt Privateer and making himself Captain, and is very against the Aristocracy.

He has brown hair, blue eyes and one of those little Moustaches. You know the ones I mean. The curly "I'm Spanish and Pretty dodgy" Moustache. He wears a simple traditional Japanese outfit, underneath the Pirate coat he wears. Johann fights with twin Rapiers, and frowns upon guns. He believes a lighter touch is often nessecary, and thus advocates stealth and assassination.

Powers:

Martial Artist His is highly proficient at fighting hand-to-hand.

Swordmanship His skill at wielding a blade is well-known, paticularaly with Lighter swords or knives.

Stealth He is very light on his feet, and not adverse to sticking a knife in those whom are his foes.

Inspiring and Charismatic His way of speech often inspires lesser men into his service.

Logged

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone elses opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." - Oscar Wilde

Bio: No one knows how Zero ended up with his "abnormality," not even him. When he tries to remember his past everything goes blurry. He lives in the attic of a rich families house and lives off their food, the only place he can act normal is with his full-face mask on, most likely at a masquerade ball where he would fit in completely. He doesn't know what he plans for the future and lives only for the Now. He protects any hall he has ever been to and the families house he lives in. However, he is very curious and may follow any unusual behavior.

Powers:

No Face

This isn't really a power, but Zero has no face (Just smooth skin over his eyes, nose, mouth and ears.), however, he can still see through his Ebony Full Face mask. Somehow he can speak through the mouth hole, see through the eye holes and smell through the nose holes. He can also of course, hear with it on. He has no idea whether or not it is the mask that is magic or himself, anyway, he protects the mask as if it were his child.Undetectable

The only senses that actually works on Zero while he is not wearing his mask is sight and touch. you can not hear him, smell him, or taste him (not that anyway would be tasting him!).

Bio: Edward DeCaith was born into a moderately wealthy merchant family. Due to their fluctuating wealth, the DeCaiths were never able to hire a permanent guard for their ship as they made their way trading at ports all around the (known) world. At age of 12, Edward was fed up with his parents always giving tribute to every pirate who threatened them. Starting at the next port, and continuing at each port they stopped at, Edward started learning a variety of fighting styles. One dark night, a storm sent the ship off course, but Edward's father was able to guide the ship to an unknown island. In the morning, the DeCaiths decided to explore the island. They were greeted by a group of people in robes, and they explained that they were on a secret island colony of mages. In exchange for promising not to reveal the secret island to the world, the mages promised to teach Edward magic. After three months of repairing and learning, the DeCaiths left the island and returned to civilization, never talking about or returning to the island of mages. At 17, while Edward was learning at yet another port, his parents were ambushed and killed by pirates who were driven off a year earlier. After learning this, Edward was enraged to the point to take revenge against the pirates who killed his parents. Between his rage and skill, as well as a little luck, he was able to kill the pirates and their captain. After turning the captain's corpse over to the authorities for the bounty, he effectively earned the title of "Pirate Hunter". Since then, he has been following pirates and working as a mercenary for hire.

Powers:

Multiple Fighting Styles: Due to his erratic training at various locations all over the world, Edward can make use of pretty much any weapon with a good amount of effectiveness. However, due to this kind of training, he is not a master in any of the arts.

Hand-to-hand: Unarmed martial arts are the one exception. After Edwards parents died, he decided to make the city where they died his adoptive home and learned unarmed combat better than his other combat styles, but still not mastered.

Knowledge of Magic: As part of the agreement on the Mage Island, Edward knows some basic magic spells, including [Element]balls (fireballs, iceballs, etc.) and channeling elements through other objects, such as infusing his sword with the scorching heat of fire. Due to his limited training, magic doesn't come easy to him, and can be unreliable at times.

Control of Emotion: After his emotional explosion after his parents were killed, Edward has taken the emotional control portions of his training sessions far more seriously. With the additional focus, Edward has leveled his emotions to the point that being in combat or other stressful situations does not affect his rational thinking.